“Crystal Maidens” interview with Superhippo Games – Lewd game development and plans for the future

I think most of our readers (and viewers) are more than aware of the fact that I love lewd content by now. So it should come as no shock to anyone that I’m always hungry to do interviews with game developers who create awesome lewd games. Well, guess what? Just recently I/we got the chance to do an interview with Superhippo Games. So we talked about everything from “Crystal Maidens“, lewd game development, lewd games and Superhippo’s plans for the future.

So with that said, please enjoy our interview with Superhippo Games =)

Superhippo Games have worked on quite few different titles in the past (such as “Don’t Be Squared” and “Pirate Legends TD”). Even so, “Crystal Maidens” is most likely the game that has put them on the Gaming map.

Robin TGG
I’m going to start off this interview by letting you introducing yourself to our readers. So please go ahead and do so =)
Vincent
Hi, this is Vincent from the team behind Crystal Maidens. I’m the product manager, which means that I foresee the planning and execution of all the art and features that end up in the game.

Robin TGG
How did Super Hippo come to be? And how did you come up with that name for your studio? (no offense, but it doesn’t sound very lewd-like).

Vincent
SuperHippo started out as a game studio trying to make it in the big realm of game development, so it did not start as a lewd-game developer. The company published two titles, Pirate Legends and Don’t be Squared, and like so many other developers out there, failed pretty badly at monetizing them. The gaming industry has become so competitive, with thousands of games being launched every day, so you must have a really good game, a specific player niche in mind, and also quite a bit of luck to be successful.

Robin TGGJust recently you released a rather interesting “behind the scenes” video for “Crystal Maidens” which gave the viewers a pretty good idea about the development process (that magic behind it all). However, I would still like to know more about the game’s development process and history. For example, how did it all start? And how did you come up with the name “Crystal Maidens”?
VincentThe development of Crystal Maidens started a long time ago actually; we’re talking November 2015. At that time, there were very few successful games on the Android store, Heroes Charge and Soul Hunter come to mind, and we thought they were pretty… boring.

The battle mechanic was so simple; it felt like you could not influence the outcome at all and everything was pre-determined. I’ve been playing RTS games since I was a kid, so I could not understand how so many people could play such a brain-dead game mechanic. What we did like; however, from these games was the meta game, everything surrounding how you evolve your heroes, acquire skills, items, etc. So we basically decided to take the best of the meta game, and improve drastically on the combat mechanic to give the player more choice about how he can influence the battle.

As for the name Crystal Maidens, well we wanted players to quickly see that there was going to be some interesting lady characters, so Maiden was chosen pretty early. We had different variations with the word Maiden, but Crystal Maidens just came out on top.

I think it’s safe to say that the people behind the art and designs of “Crystal Maidens” are very talented and skilled.

Robin TGG
Who’s the master mind behind the awesome art designs, characters and animations in “Crystal Maidens”? Furthermore, did it take a long time to come up with everything? And which part was the hardest nut to crack (no pun intended).

Vincent
We reviewed work by a lot of artists from around the world before settling down on our current illustrator. We wanted someone who could bridge the gap between Western art and the Japanese anime look. We finally chose to work with an artist from Korea that instilled a lot of life into the game. I can’t reveal his name because pornography is actually illegal in Korea, so I wouldn’t want to cause him any trouble 😉

I think the hardest is just trying to come up with new ideas for the girls, the scenes, and the art after we have explored all the common ideas. Thankfully, we get help from our community on Discord and Facebook with all sorts of new concepts.

Yes, you can actually get laid with every single maiden in “Crystal Maidens” *cough cough*

Robin TGGDid you decide from the very start that you were aiming to make a really lewd RTS/RPG with building and visual novel elements? Or what was that something that you came up with later on?

Vincent
No, we decided to go that way about halfway through the project. It just made a lot of sense, there is a big community asking for new, high-quality lewd games, but very few of them are released, so we thought that niche had a lot of potential.

Robin TGGIs there any limits for how lewd “Crystal Maidens”? will become in the future? I mean, sure. The game is already pretty darn lewd, but there is always room for more lewd content *cough cough*

Vincent
There are two things that limit us, one is what is allowed on the Nutaku platform, and the other is how far do we want to go. I would say right now the lewd content currently in the game is pretty soft compared to some of the content that we plan to release in the near future 😉

Sadly enough, there is no girl on girl action to be found in “Crystal Maidens”. Well, at least not to my knowledge. However, perhaps Superhippo Games will add some Yuri action into the game in the future?

Robin TGGI could be wrong now, but I don’t recall ever seeing any girl on girl action in “Crystal Maidens”? And perhaps it would be a good idea for the player to have the option to play as a female? (that would also make it possible for us to get some awesome Yuri scenes).

Vincent
That is something we get asked a lot, so we are definitely looking into it. If you had the chance to play the Xmas Event and receive the exclusive character, Naku, there is a nice surprise waiting for you, and it is something we will be exploring more in the future.

There are (at this moment) 18 different maidens that you can “play” with in “Crystal Maidens”, maidens such as Billie here.

Robin TGGIf my memory doesn’t fail me now, there are 18 maidens in “Crystal Maidens” right? Well, if I recall everything right. You did mention in the “behind the scenes” video that you plan to add more maidens into the game in the future. So, what did you have in mind? And will the players/fans get a chance to make some requests?

Vincent
We have a lot of maidens that are just waiting on a few tweaks before they are released. We already received some requests during the soft launch, and you will see some of these requests take shape in the near future. We always want to do something special when we release new Maidens, because we’ve been working so hard to get them to the players, so stay tuned for more contests and events to correspond with the release of the new Maidens.

For each maiden there are a number of +18 lewd scenes that you can unlock “if” you flirt and charm the said maiden enough.

Robin TGGI’m kind of curious to know what the lewd content development process looks like? I mean, does everyone in the team just gather around a screen and brainstorm like crazy? Or is there one or two guys who just go through tons of lewd pictures and movies in search for some inspiration to get a spark or two to create some lewd awesomeness?

Vincent
There’s actually a lot of research to guide our artist to create the best scene for a specific character. Now less so than at the beginning, since our illustrator knows more about what we’re looking for, but there’s always an initial brainstorm, and several sketches before getting the final character and scene.

We try to define who this character is; where she comes from, what her purpose is in this world, what does she likes, even her hobbies and favorite food. It helps our artist, and our writer come up with a cohesive look and feel for a specific character. For the scenes, yes, there were a lot of looking through a mountain of X-rated content. Now we have a big bank of positions and facial expressions, so it’s much faster 😉

After a couple of hours of “Crystal Maidens, ” I couldn’t help myself from thinking of the game as a mix of Clash of Clans”, “DOTA”, “Magic the Gathering” and +18 lewd content.

Robin TGG
Not so long ago I stated that “Crystal Maidens” is like a mix of “Clash of Clans”, “Magic the Gathering”, “DOTA” and +18 lewd content. Well, do you think that I made a fair and accurate statement? Because that’s at least the games that I thought of while playing “Crystal Maidens”.

Vincent
It’s definitely close to Clash of Clans in the combat mechanics, although as mentioned in our behind the scene video we started working on Crystal Maidens before Clash of Clans was released. We are big players of League of Legends and DOTA, so I’m sure some of the experience we have in these games made its way to Crystal Maidens. For MTG, the strategic and timing aspect is very important also in our game, so yes I would say it’s pretty accurate.

I’m truly glad that I got rid of my stomach flu just in time for last year’s Christmas event in “Crystal Maidens” :3

Robin TGG
Which lewd games besides “Crystal Maidens” would you say rocked 2017 like lewd god? And which lewd games have you enjoyed the most during 2017?

Vincent
Well, Kamihime has such a high production value. So it’s kind of impossible to miss. It’s been an inspiration in the sense that it is a great game with great visuals, which is something we’ve been striving to do since the beginning. Furthermore, Armor Blitz has been surprisingly addicting, and the game has been getting better and better in the past few months.

Robin TGGIs there a possibility that we could be seeing some new classes and races for “Crystal Maidens” later this year? If so, is there anything that you could reveal right now?

Vincent
I will say nothing currently planned in terms of new classes. In terms of new races, well yes, plenty of new types of Maidens are coming 😉 If you want a scoop, I would say some fairy dust might soon sprinkle over the world of Crystal Maidens…

If you don’t like sexy maidens and lewd content, then you’re most likely not going to enjoy “Crystal maidens” all that much. As the game contains a lot sexy ladies and lewd moments.

Robin TGGWhat have the feedback and reviews been from players and the games media so far? I mean, has the feedback been mainly positive? Or has the response been mixed?

Vincent
Mainly positive, which really warms our hearts. Players love the art, and praise the “harder” gameplay compared to most of the games on the Nutaku platform. We’ve received a lot of great suggestions that we’re looking to implement in the next builds.

The combat is very straight forward and non complex in “Crystal Maidens”. You simply drag and drop your maidens into the battle field and then let them unleash their destructive powers upon your enemies.

Robin TGG
I have a slight memory of not being able to use the arena building within the game. So I take it that it will be used for cooperative or competitive purposes among other players while playing online? If so, what’s your plans for it in the future?

Vincent
I can’t talk too much about it right now, but I will say that more competitive and cooperative features are coming to Crystal Maidens in 2018.

Superhippo Games aims to improve, evolve and more content to “Crystal Maidens” during this year. So “hopefully” that means that we will get to play as some new and smoking hot maidens in the near future.

Robin TGG
Since it’s already 2018, I might as well ask you what you got for hopes, expectations and plans for the rest of the year? And is there anything else that you would like to add or tell our readers?
VincentOur hope is to keep launching great new content for the players, all while tweaking the game and adding new features so players are still in love with the game going into 2019. I would like to thank all the players for playing and for being such a great community. Keep sending us your concerns, requests, and suggestions. That’s how we’ll make the game even better.

***Disclosure***
We (TGG) are a part of the Nutaku family, and we may receive a profit cut out of your purchase via the Nutaku links in this post.